Episode 60: Making Career Decisions

Feeling tired of your job but unsure whether to leave it for a new one? Decided you need a career change but unclear of what you truly want? Confused about why your hard work doesn’t translate into more job satisfaction? Terry McDougall, executive-turned-executive-coach and author of Winning the Game of Work: Career Happiness and Success on Your Own Terms, offers answers to these questions to help you understand the invisible rules of work that might be affecting your career.

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Episode Highlights

Terry’s view on the greatest unmet wellbeing need at work today

“Lack of boundaries…especially with a lot of people working from home is that there is no outside boundary between home and work, right, we get up, and walk into our office or to the dining room table and pop open the laptop, and, I think that for a lot of folks there, it's just become like 24/7 365. And what I recommend is that people decide what is a fair day of work. Is that 8:00 to 6:00, is that 8:00 to 4:00 and then you log back onto your computer from to 9:30? Whatever it is, think about it intentionally and honor that and give yourself some time and a break away from work, because you need to have that time to care for yourself to rest, recharge, rejuvenate, so that when it is time to go back to work, you have those great new creative ideas that you actually want to work.”

What “working with humans” means to Terry

“If you want to motivate if you want to get more value out of people that you're working with, have respect. Recognize that it's not about forcing people, it's about motivating people. It's about realizing that different people have different perspectives, and that when we can come together in a respectful way, that we're going to get synergies that we couldn't get on our own.

If people feel compelled, or forced, they are only going to give as much as what it takes to be perceived as complying. Right? People will only give their all if they feel like it's safe. Like they're valued. If they feel like they're respected. And we all want that. It's not about thinking that we always know better than the people around us because there's lots of different ways to approach things. And when we can come together, we're going to definitely be able to create more value than we would on our own individually.”

Resources

Follow: Terry’s website
Watch: The Clash – Should I Stay Or Should I Go (Live at Shea Stadium)
Read: Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time (Harvard Business Review)
Listen: Set and Achieve Goals (Huberman Lab Podcast)

Michael Glazer is the creator and host of Humans At Work. His purpose in life is to make well-being at work a globally-accepted, basic human right. Learn more about Michael here.